Roy was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Jesse Peters and Minnie L. (Badders) Short.
Roy married Louise Clay Baird of Jeffersonville, Indiana 1 September 1926.
Short was ordained in 1921 and received into the Louisville Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South.
Dr. Short was elected a Bishop by the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference of The Methodist Church, June 1948.
Bishop Short has also traveled extensively, including trips to Latin America, Africa, Fiji, Australia, Korea, Hong Kong, and Europe.
Bishop Short has also served in many administrative capacities: President of the College of Bishops of the Southeastern Jurisdiction (1956–64), Secretary of the Council of Bishops of the Methodist Church (1956–68), Chairman of the Joint Committee on Christian Education in Foreign Fields (1956–64), and Chairman of the Methodist Interboard Commission on the Local Church (1956–64).